Housetraining a puppy can be a very daunting job. There's a very strong possibility that I'm going to be housetraining yet another baby very soon. As a result, when my fingers hit the keyboard today, and I sat looking at an empty screen, the thought occurred to me that maybe a little said about baby dogs and their impact on the carpet would serve us well.

There are two things which must be borne in mind. Firstly young dogs don't have the bladder/bowel control of an adult dog, so don't expect a younger to be able to retain for the same length of time as your adult dog. Even when it's housetrained, Baby simply can't hold it that long. Second, Baby should be confined at night. She'll holler when she has to go out!

It shouldn't take longer than approximately 3 weeks to housetrain Baby. If course, all dogs are different but on average, by the end of the 3rd week, Baby will have a pretty good idea what the score is and what's expected of her.

I've always believed that if we understand the Why's of dog training, they How's are easy. There are basic principles which form a well-rounded understanding of canine behaviour, but in order to housetrain our little darlin', really we need just to understand -

• The nature of the animal being trained

• How a dog learns

• What incentive make him work, and

• How to encourage and discourage individual actions

So we have this little 8 or 9 week old (isn't she cute!!) and we need to housetrain her - and the quicker the better.

By understanding the nature of the animal being trained, we will move ahead faster. Dogs are clean and do not want to soil their bed or nest. By the time they are old enough to crawl, puppies begin to wander away from the nest and eliminate nearby. At this stage they are being conditioned. If the area near the nest is dirt, they will become conditioned to eliminate in dirt. If it is grass, they will become conditioned by the feel of the grass to eliminate on grass. If the area is covered by newspaper - I think you get the idea.

Newspaper is cheap and easy to come by. I use baby gates and keep Baby in the kitchen when I can't be right with her every second. When Baby is tiny, newspaper is always spread out under her bed and all over the kitchen. If she makes a mistake, I don't say anything: I just clean it up. As she grows, I reduce the amount of paper and begin moving the main part of the paper toward the door. There are 2 or 3 sheets by the door, a couple outside the door and one that has her scent on it on the ground at the designated potty place. Rocks keep it in position.

Meanwhile, I'm also working on Baby beginning to understand the concept of going outside. This is where understanding how dogs learn and what incentive make them work come into play now. Remember conditioned response? That's part of how dogs learn.

In order to help Baby become housetrained, we must pay close attention to her and what's she's up to. When she takes a nap, I make a mental note to stay alert for wake up time. When she awakens, she's going to need to void. As soon as she gets up and yawns and starts to walk around, I put on my coat and ask her if she needs to "Go Out?" I walk her or carry her to wherever it is she is to relieve herself and stay with her. I keep repeating "Go Out" and let her sniff around. Pretty soon we get results. As soon as she begins to void, I go into "Praising Party mode". We play, pet, feed a treat and generally make a BIG FUSS over the success.

The same thing is repeated about 15 minutes after a meal. While Baby is tiny, I watch the clock and every 30 minutes, we put on the coat, repeat "Go Out?" and out we go - together - if it's cold, I stay there, if it's raining, I stay there, if it's windy, I stay there. We stay together until Baby has success. Once in awhile, she just doesn't go. When this happens, she goes back into the house and we try again in about 5 minutes.

As Baby gets older, I bring the last item into play - encouraging and discouraging actions. By now the paper has been eliminated and I'm just keeping an eye on Baby. If I see her begin to squat, I say "uh uh" and mildly scold (no hitting, no nose in the puddle). Then I ask her if she needs to "Go Out?" and out we go. It's not long until I say "Go Out?" and puppy runs to the door to be let out.

By this stage, I just wait in the doorway while she tends to her business. The distance from her has been gradually achieved by standing a little further away each time. If she wanders back to me and I want her to go in a certain spot, I take her back to where I want her to go and then try fading again.

Dogs signal the need to go outside differently. We have 4 dogs right now. Serena walks up to me and places her paw on me. BeeBop finds me, gets as close as she can, looks me full in the face and says "Wuf". Clue dances in circles and paces up and down the hallway and Aurora just looks at me. We have to try to pay attention to our dogs and watch for the signals. When I see one, I ask, "Go Out?' Each time, I'm answered by a dog running to the door and dancing until I open it and let Buddy out - or in my case, Clue, Serena, BeeBop or Aurora - or all 4.

 Back to Pawsitive Education